Your views in 200 words or less

August 16, 2010 2:28 pm

Charles Krauthammer made many compelling arguments against the location of an Islamic center near the World Trade Center site (column, 8-12). Fundamentally, he believes that it would dishonor those who died there on Sept. 11, 2001.

I disagree. The greatest disrespect we could show to the victims of that attack is to give into the fear Islamic jihadists would like to sow. We are the nation on Earth most celebrated for our ability to accommodate differences of religious belief in our national fabric. If, in the shadow of Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, we begin to fear a particular religion, the zealots will have succeeded in one of their goals. And ultimately zealotry knows no religious, political or geographic boundaries.